News

Hailstorm spam…how to fight back.

2017-02-23 12:00:00 GMT, by Barry Branagh

High-speed and high-volume - hailstorm spam is one method cyber criminals are using to overwhelm target organisations’ defences but Spamhaus is leading the fight back with threat intelligence delivered at high-speed.

Hailstorm attacks can be over in a matter of minutes so Spamhaus has improved the update frequency from 60 seconds to continuously updated for subscribers of its Data Query Service (DQS).

Spamhaus researchers gather threat intelligence from across the internet and the first indication of a hailstorm attack automatically feeds into the standard Spamhaus email block lists. This means DQS subscribers can now block hailstorm traffic at the start of the attack, thwarting the bulk of spam sent by cyber criminals.

In a recent live hailstorm attack, Spamhaus researchers were able to identify the threat and update block lists including Zero Reputation Domain, Zen and Domain Block List, blocking 85% of the volume of the attack which was over in just three minutes.

Spamhaus subscribers who currently use rsync rather than DQS, please contact us for more information about how to access this service.

About Spamhaus Technology

Founded in London in 2004, Spamhaus Technology provides commercial data distribution and synchronization services for the real-time datastreams, raw datasets and security technologies developed by the non-profit organization The Spamhaus Project.

From the proceeds of these services, Spamhaus Technology supports a pool of worldwide public servers that providing data to the public, funds research into anti-spam technologies and contributes research and equipment to the global fight against cybercrime.